


Confessions of a champion

by Scoby



Series: Decades of Reylo [5]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Hip Hop, Angst, Badass Rey (Star Wars), F/M, Flirty Rose Tico, Rap Battles, Skateboarding, Surprise Kissing, Swearing, public love confession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27204286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scoby/pseuds/Scoby
Summary: After a couple of repetitions, the voting tips for Rey of Sun. She has time for a quick hug with Rosey Posey before she has to take her place on the stage.“Now you have to win”, Rey of Sun says. “I don’t want to do the finals with him.”“Why not?” Rosey Posey asks.“I don’t want to battle him. I'd prefer to kill him.”“Ok, I’ll win and then we’ll have fun in the finals, us two.”Rosey Posey hops on the stage with an enthusiastic wave, greeting a stone-faced Kylo Ren with an air-kiss.
Relationships: Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Decades of Reylo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877596
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Confessions of a champion

**Author's Note:**

> I still can't believe that these characters actually made me write rap lyrics this time... But it happened and was pretty fun :D

The coin flies wildly spinning and lands on the host’s hand. Heads. He gestures it towards Kylo Ren but he does not say anything, only crosses his arms and scans his opponent from head to toe.

“So who goes first? You go first? I go first?” Damneron tries to speed him up but he takes his time deciding before turning to the host again:

“Let that bitch go first.”

He backs off only a half-step when the beat starts and Damneron lifts up his mike and addresses the crowd first:

“You with me? Then get those motherfucking hands in the air. Let’s smash him!”

When he has a comfortable amount of cheering behind him, he turns back to Kylo Ren.

_You can look like a fridge but what’s inside?  
Just a rotten cabbage and a blinking light  
You walk around like you own the fucking ground  
But no one buys that shit, not even your chick_

_Oh, you don’t even have a chick, sorry I forgot  
I should’ve remembered how your non-existent heart broke  
Lemme see if you still fight or did she suck your rhymes  
I don’t have your size ears but I'll still hear_

If any of Damneron's words hit home, Kylo Ren shows nothing about it on his face as he lifts his own mike and steps forward.

 _You know fucking all about a broken heart  
_ _I heard you whine when I scratched your car  
_ _Every handbreak turn just makes you more sissy  
_ _Checking mirror for your head that looks like a pussy_

 _How many posters are there with your face  
_ _to sell a motherfucking tube of toothpaste?  
_ _Your mouth may be pretty but lousy as shit  
_ _It keeps on drooling but can’t even spit_

They go on for two more escalating rounds before the beat fades out and the host steps back between them. Whichever of them he gestures at, the crowd goes wild, and the voting has to be repeated several times. With the fourth trial, Kylo Ren barely wins. He does not visibly celebrate, only steps down from the stage looking like he was still battling.

The host fuels the excitement of the crowd as he digs his hand in the lottery box for the next pair.

“Get ready to make noise! Up next we have… No other than the defending champion… Rosey Posey!”

Cheers greet Rosey Posey as she hops on the stage in her pink hoodie, black pigtails and a wide smile. The host shuffles the lottery box some more.

“Against… MC Hugs!”

More cheers follow. MC Hugs has to struggle to maintain a battle stance and expression when facing Rosey Posey’s beaming smile. She chooses tails, and the host tosses the coin into a flipping flight and catches its fall. Tails. Rosey Posey jumps of excitement.

“I’ll go first!”

She uses the first beats to talk to the crowd:

“Hey, it’s Rosey Posey in the house! Everyone blow an air-kiss at MC Hugs, 1, 2, 3, now!”

MC Hugs rolls his eyes as a hundred air kisses land somewhere on his face and flush it red. Rosey Posey admires the effect, seemingly content enough to start.

_Looks like you needed some more kisses  
Go all day without and whole life pisses  
You do look adorable in red  
Bad luck if it drains the rhymes from your head_

_At least I win in a game that’s fair  
Tonight I’ll eat carrot cake made of your hair  
And we’ll all cherish deep in our souls  
The memory of how the mighty MC Hugs choked_

MC Hugs raises his mike and opens his mouth. But there is nothing he can do against choking. Rosey Posey has just left his mind completely blank. Beats pass and still no words come. When his time limit approaches, the host starts counting down with the crowd. That works as the ultimate distraction. In a moment, he is completely gone and everyone is cheering at Rosey Posey’s victory.

She blows one more air-kiss at him when they step off the stage. MC Hugs’s friends gather around to pat his back. They all understand well that only very few rappers can stand against Rosey Posey. She has a unique strategy of overwhelming everyone with cuteness.

“Check that out, Rosey Posey’s really defending her title tonight, ain’t she?” The host asks and gets another roll of cheers as a response.

“Next up…” His hand shuffles the lottery box. “FN-2187! Against… Rey of Sun!”

FN-2187 and Rey of Sun already laugh when climbing on the stage. They both suck at this when facing each other. Usually, they end up giggling and hugging, and that is exactly what happens again when the beat starts. Eventually, Rey of Sun manages to get a few uninterrupted lines out of her, and that earns her a win.

“That’s fair, but we’re expecting more from you in the semifinals, Rey of Sun, huh?”

Rey of Sun is still giggling but nods at the host, relieved to know that she’ll go against somebody else next time.

“Now, the final pair of the evening, don’t let us down. That is… Is… Phazzzmic! Against… Kaydelastic!”

Phazzmic and Kaydelastic save the evening after the awkward atmosphere left behind by Rey of Sun and FN-2187. They spit at each other for three rounds of skillful, smart and funny rhymes. Towards the end, Kaydelastic stumbles in one line and misses the next one. She still pulls off a punchy ending, but the tiny hiccup turns the loud voting in favour of Phazzzmic. After the noise has somewhat quieted down, the host takes the stage for the final time.

“Give it up for all our battlers tonight! That was some classy-ass spitting. We’ll continue in two weeks with the semifinals, with Kylo Ren, Rosey Posey, Rey of Sun and Phazzzmic, and of course the final battle for the title of the champion. But tonight is not over. Now we party!”

* * *

Rey changes the CD in her Walkman and puts on the headphones. She walks down the stairs of her apartment block in sync with the beat. Once in the yard, she boards her skateboard and heads off.

When she reaches the gate of the skatepark, she first notices Rose gliding down a rail. After a satisfactory landing, her concentrated expression turns into a radiant smile as she notices Rey and rolls to the gate to meet her. Now that she is out of Rosey Posey’s stage persona, she is wearing plain army green coloured hoodie and jeans, far from Rosey Posey’s shades of pink. But both Rose and Rosey Posey share the same heartful smile.

Rey fistbumps with her and turns off her Walkman. 

“Sugarcane stall today, huh?”

Rey’s suggestion makes Rose squirm nervously.

“I didn’t dare to try it yet without you.”

“You think I make it easier?”

“Yes, I’m sure of that. You just need to get up there and watch in a supportive way.”

“Alright, let’s get to it then."

They climb up on top of the half-pipe and wait for their turn. About an hour and several bruises later, they both celebrate a stylish sugarcane stall. When Rey finishes her third successful go, she fistbumps Rose with a wide smile but freezes when she turns serious.

“At four o’clock, don’t look”, Rose says quietly through her teeth.

Rey pinches her eyes closed for a few accelerating heartbeats. From Rose’s tone, she instantly knows what she talks about. And she definitely does not want to look, but her head turns by itself to look at Ben and Armitage who have just entered the park.

They look just like Kylo Ren and MC Hugs, as always even outside of the stage, covered in the black mass of the oversized fabrics of their hoodies and jeans. Both fidget with their boards, scanning the park while deciding where to start. When Ben looks at her direction, Rey quickly turns away and bites the inside of her lip.

“I’m done.”

She mounts her board for a final descend down the halfpipe and uses the speed to jump on a rail. She has ridden this rail down many times. Now she’ll just have to turn herself a little to the left in the end so that her speed will take her to the gate in a wide arch that passes Ben as far as possible.

She moves her weight a little, and the next thing she knows, she is down on the asphalt, unspeakable pain piercing her knee. When she manages to open her eyes enough to look down, she regrets right away that she did. She did not know that her lower leg was capable of pointing in _that_ direction.

“Rey!” Rose’s scream reaches her ears.

She is somewhere behind her, running towards her. But before Rose can reach her, she feels large hands grasp around her knee, one right below it, one right above on her lower thigh, fingers reaching almost around her whole leg, even with the generous amount of jeans fabric in between. The hands make one resolute jerk, turning the pain up to excruciation.

But it only lasts a second. Right after, she lets out a breath of relief. Pain still remains, but totally bearable now. And when she opens her eyes again, her leg looks normal, lower leg continuing logically from where her thigh ends. But at that moment, she also notices that it is Ben who is holding her leg.

He has a weird look on his face, something she would interpret as a genuine blend of worry and hope – if she would see it on the face of anyone else. It quickly dissolves into his typical snarky veil, as Rey pulls her legs back, folds them against her chest and crosses her arms in front of them. The knee still feels too painful for her to move away, but at least she can look another direction. Ben does not move either, and somehow she feels like he is staring at her, even though she would rather die than check.

“A dope sugarcane you have there”, he says after an awkwardly long silence.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“You want me to put your leg back to how it was?”

She refuses to answer. He is too intolerably right that he just saved her and would deserve some kind of thanks. But then again, this barely makes them even.

“Hey, listen, would you like to talk at some point about…?” He leans forward a little, a weird look again passing his face.

“No!”

Now Rey stands up, not caring about the pain. Luckily, Rose is right behind her to catch her when she is about to lose her balance. Rose carries both their boards under her one arm and wraps the other one around Rey’s waist, supporting her with a firm grip to limp home.

They get a doctor’s appointment for her for tomorrow only, so Rose insists on staying to help her get through the rest of the day. Rey does not mind, as Rose cooks better than her and is tireless with listening to all her complaints. By evening, they both lay cozily on Rey’s couch with stomachs full, kitchen tidy and Rey’s knee pleasantly almost forgotten. Until she thinks that she can get up by herself for a glass of water. As soon as she puts weight on her leg, she falls back on the couch in pain.

“Motherfucking piece of shit, why can’t it work?”

“It just needs some time to heal. What do you want? Let me get it for you.”

“Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m fucking dying of this shit and all because of Ben.”

“Ben? To me it looked like your leg would’ve been a lot worse without him.”

“Are you defending him? If he wasn’t there like he owned the whole fucking skatepark, I wouldn’t have needed to try to fucking escape and none of this shit would’ve happened!”

“Well, I guess you can see it that way. I just…”

“What? What ‘you just’?”

“Never mind.”

“Yes, I do mind. What do you see so worth of defending in that motherfucker?”

“I guess I just went along with everyone else believing that you two were about to hit it off. I don’t understand what happened. Did he… err… try something?”

“Not what you’re thinking about. Or well, that too. But he had other plans behind it.”

“Like what?”

“Like leaving the battle scene and going after a record label. He said he’d want to do it with me. That this scene was too small for us to hold on to. That we could fill stadiums together. You see? He fucking wants a chick to kiss in the music videos and bang backstage and maybe throw in a few backing vocals. Because rappers sell better with a chick.”

“Are you sure?”

“Are you still defending him?”

“No, of course not. That’s, eh… disgusting.” Rose avoids Rey’s gaze and they drop the subject.

* * *

“Are you ready for the semifinals!?”

The host is not satisfied with the amount of shouting as a response, so he repeats louder:

“ARE YOU READY FOR THE SEMIFINALS!!!?”

This time the crowd goes satisfactorily crazy.

“Then let’s hit it! I hope our semifinalists are ready, too, because by the end of tonight, one of them will be the champion ´98! First up… Rey of Sun! Against…”

Rey counts quickly her odds. One in three that she’ll go against Kylo Ren. She sighs of relief when the host picks up the lottery ticket and reads out:

“Phazzmic!”

Rey of Sun ends up enjoying this battle a lot, even though it is no wonder that Phazzmic does her best to shame her about the incident in the skatepark. Phazzmic is a smartass with a quick mouth, which gives her the upper hand over many rappers. But Rey of Sun is fast at reacting and improvising, so to her, Phazzmic’s rapid-fire spitting only gives plenty of new material to attack against. In the end, the crowd goes crazy about them both.

After a couple of repetitions, the voting tips for Rey of Sun. She has time for a quick hug with Rosey Posey before she has to take her place on the stage.

“Now you have to win”, Rey of Sun says. “I don’t want to do the finals with him.”

“Why not?” Rosey Posey asks.

“I don’t want to battle him. I’d prefer to kill him.”

“Ok, I’ll win and then we’ll have fun in the finals, us two.”

Rosey Posey hops on the stage with an enthusiastic wave, greeting a stone-faced Kylo Ren with an air-kiss. She winks an eye at him when he chooses heads, because they both know that she would have chosen tails in any case. But nothing moves on his face, not even when the coin lands tails up and Rosey Posey chooses to start herself. The beginning is where she can make the most damage.

She first just screams and waves at the audience, earning exhilarated screams and waves back from her fans.

“Hey everyone! How about Rosey Posey takes the title again tonight? Ready for that?”

More screaming and shouts like ‘We love you, RP!’, ‘Squash him!’, ‘Go, RP!” and ‘Show him!’. When satisfied, Rosey Posey turns to Kylo Ren.

_You think you’re the coolest but you’re just cute,  
just look at how your lip curls like mini-parachute.  
You must be the one that even puppies cannot beat  
because your eyes look like glossed buckwheat._

_Oh, by the way, speaking of your eyes,  
I know you must look even cuter when you cry.  
Time to pile tissues for tears of Kylo Ren,  
‘cos Rosey Posey’s victory is where this ends._

The crowd indulges in long sounds of ‘awww’, but Kylo Ren does not show any sign of being affected. As soon as Rosey Posey finishes, his mike is up in front of his mouth without missing a beat.

_Go and be as pink and fluffy as a pig,  
but Kylo Ren ain’t gonna fall for that shit…_

He finishes flawlessly and they keep going a couple more rounds. Kylo Ren keeps holding his ground against Rosey Posey’s disarming attacks. In the end, the voting is extremely even. Kylo Ren gets a lot of shouting out of the appreciation of keeping it together against Rosey Posey. But her fans are angry at the threat against the defending champion and keep dead silent for him and the opposite of that for her. On the fifth round of voting, Kylo Ren’s supporters find a new gear of screaming, and Rosey Posey is dropped out of this year’s final battle, accompanied by a wail from half of the audience.

The battle is set for a break to let people party and gather anticipation for the final.

“I’m sorry”, Rosey Posey says as Rey of Sun drags her outside. “He’s freaking Teflon.”

Rey of Sun sits down and leans against the wall. Her knee is bound but it is still sore after a long time of standing.

“Thanks for trying. You sounded fucking awesome.”

Rosey Posey sits next to her and lightly punches her shoulder.

“But you can do it, you know. You can take him. Make Kylo Ren jelly. He can’t completely ignore _you_.”

“What the fuck do I even say? I just want to dig his eyes out so that he’d stop…”

“Stop what?”

“Nothing.”

“This is important battle warm up. You have to say aloud everything on your mind about him. That can all be material to use. Let’s see…”

She starts nodding her upper body and shaking her hand to an imagined beat:

_All my rhymes are gonna dig out your eyes  
to stop you…_

She slows down the beat a little and looks at Rey of Sun expectantly

_…from looking like I make you alive._

Rosey Posey smiles at her completion and starts another line:

_And deep down under all this bloody mess…_

Rey of Sun looks into the distance as she continues:

_I still fucking wonder if I should’ve said yes._

“No, there’s no fucking way I’m telling him that!” She pushes Rosey Posey’s hand down to stop her from making the beat in the air.

“Not even if it could make you champion?”

Rey of Sun gets no chance to answer as Phazzmic shouts at them from the door:

“Hey, it’s starting!”

Rey of Sun climbs on the stage and lifts up her middle finger. Kylo Ren responds by lifting both of his.

“Suck my dick!” Rey of Sun snaps and the crowd rewards her with a pleased cheer.

“Wow wow wow, this is personal”, the host says as he shuffles the only two tickets in the lottery box. Rey of Sun’s comes up first, so he lets her choose her side of the coin.

“Heads”, she says without taking her stern eyes off Kylo Ren. No visible change happens on his face but he lifts up a middle finger again. Rey of Sun gestures him to go fuck himself.

When the coin lands heads up, she just silently points at him.

Kylo Ren does not waste time on warming the audience but bites straight in:

_Wanna prove you’re a champion but proving something else  
I can here you choking so loud that it smells  
No matter how mad you are, ‘cos I feel it too  
Every motherfucking joke is only on you  
  
What chick does a perfect sugarcane  
but still falls from a fucking simple rail?  
Still wanna kill me? Go and fucking try  
You can stop my breathing but I still won’t die_

Rey of Sun does not miss a beat before starting her answer:

_Yes, please, we go your place or mine?  
I’m ready to kill you but we’re wasting time  
All my rhymes are gonna dig out your eyes  
to stop you from looking like I make you alive  
  
Want someone to hold one of your giant hands?  
Better look somewhere in other monsters’ land  
Can’t wait to be done with your trashy bullshit  
Did you already choke or have something more to spit?_

Kylo Ren responds by pouring an elevated bunch of insults on her. Her fist tightens around her mike when her turn comes again. He just gave her some handles she could grasp, turn them back on him, escalated. But this is not taking them anywhere.

And just like Rosey Posey said, this is not helping her win. ‘Say aloud everything on your mind about him.’ Those were her words. But everything on her mind has not come out yet. A couple of bars pass as she refocuses, but she picks up the beat promptly:

_I hate the way you talk and the way you cut your hair,  
the way you skate down half-pipe and the way you stare.  
I hate your bigass sneakers and how you read my mind,  
how you make me laugh and cry, and how you’re always right._

_But what I fucking hate the most is how I don’t hate you,_   
_not even close, not even at all._   
_You can be the most supreme jerk there’s ever been,_   
_but I can’t ignore the fact that I fucking love you._

Her voice turns shaky towards the end, and rhymes fail to come out exactly as she would want them. But for the first time ever, she can see astonishment on Kylo Ren’s face on stage. For a moment, the beat is the only sound as she catches her breath and Kylo Ren lifts his mike and opens his mouth.

But nothing comes out. The crowd already starts with tentative cheers, expecting that he will not make it. Silent bars pass as he keeps staring at Rey of Sun, trying to get his brain to work. Over the noise, she hears Rosey Posey raise her voice above the rest:

“Finish him!”

Rey of Sun smiles, steps forward, pushes Kylo Ren’s mike away from his mouth and kisses him. First, she can hear and angry grunt against her lips. But when she applies more heat by tangling her hand in his hair and invading his mouth with her tongue, he melts against her.

The crowd goes wild and the host has to pull Rey of Sun back so that he can invite Rosey Posey on the stage to pass her the golden sneaker trophy.

The night continues with a party and Rey of Sun is surrounded by congratulators. Only about an hour later, she gets a chance to sneak outside, sit against the wall to rest her knee again, put her trophy down on the ground and draw a content breath of fresh air.

“Rey?”

She is alerted by the use of her real name in this place. And even more so because it comes in a voice that she knows but is not quite normal. Ben sits cautiously down next to her, looking less like Kylo Ren than she has ever seen. He looks almost like he is nervous, if it is possible for him.

“I really screwed up back then, didn’t I?” he starts.

Rey only shrugs, staring at his sneakers.

“Look, it probably came across as fucked up, but what I meant was that I really a lot like you. All the other stuff was just some shit we can get to if you’re up for it. ‘Cos I think you’re badass at this and could really break through, with me or by yourself. But it doesn’t matter ‘cos… fuck… I’ve never wanted anything as much as…”

“What?” she prompts as he stops and looks away.

“Just you.”

Rey’s stomach churns and now she hides her gaze to her own sneakers.

“I’m just fucking rambling… But fine, it’s done, I said all that, I can just go and you…” Ben stirs to stand up but she grabs his arm to stop him.

“Mkay, I can stay, but what can I say anymore..?” He fidgets with the excess fabric of his black jeans, and his eyes hit the golden sneaker on the ground. “Congrats for winning. You deserved it, motherfucker.”

Her grip around his arm tightens and the corners of her mouth curve up a notch.

“Thank you, bitch.”

She pulls him closer to kiss him again.


End file.
